Disclaimer: Still not owning it….Criminal Minds, that is…

….

Nick and Reid drove to the library while the others went back to the station to check up with Hotch and Grissom. When they pulled into the driveway, something caught Reid's eye.

"Hey, look at that car," said Reid. The car was a large truck with huge tires. Tires that are used in rough terrain…and there was sand on them.

"Yeah, you don't see too many of those in Vegas," joked Nick, looking over to the black truck.

"That's the kind of car we thought our unSub might drive." Reid met Nick's gaze before Nick turned his attention to the brick building in front of him.

"You have a gun, kid," Nick asked.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah. Keep it handy. Our guy is here. Should we call in for backup?" asked Nick keeping his eyes peeled.

"The more cops he sees the more likely he is to get nervous and leave before we've had the opportunity to identify him. We can arrest him and hold him for 72 hours, and hopefully by then we'll have enough evidence to hold him or get a confession," said the young agent, opening his door.

The two men walked up the many stairs and into the building. It was exactly how Reid remembered it. The four round tables by the historical fiction section; the chandelier over by the checkout; the shiny floors that made your footsteps ring. He felt as if he still were that twelve year old boy, sitting between the stacks, studying for his senior final exams. It was the one place he felt safe, from the other boys and from his family, especially his father, when he was younger.

"You okay, kid?" asked Nick, noticing Reid's expression.

"Fine," said Reid quickly. "We should see if our guy is an employee, or just a visitor. I'll go give the profile to the woman at the front desk," he said, preparing to leave.

"Hold on there. We should stick together. You go talk to her, I'll keep an eye on the people in here. There aren't too many, so that's helpful."

Reid glanced around and frowned. "Look at this place. It's the perfect place for this guy. The vast majority of people here are young female students, exactly what he looks for. There's only about two guys here."

Suddenly, Spencer's phone began to right.

"Shhhh!" whispered an elderly woman, trying to figure out how to work a computer-contraption.

"Sorry," mouthed Reid, before stepping to the side and looking at the ID. Gideon.

"Gideon, what did you find?"

"Morgan told me where you were. Is there anything there that might point to our unSub?" said Gideon quickly.

"We have a car that matches the profile perfectly, sand on the wheels and all," said Reid, glancing around, making sure nobody heard him.

"The unSub is injured, Reid."

"In what way?"

"We found blood on the vic that wasn't theirs. He gave up his strangling MO because he was injured in some way in his arm or hand. That's why he shot them."

Reid immediately scanned the room. The two young men he saw before looked completely unharmed.

"Be careful, Spencer. Make the arrest and get the hell out of there. This guy is paranoid and will stop at nothing to resist arrest."

"We'll be okay, Gideon. Thanks."

"I'll see you at the interrogation." They hung up. Reid motioned to Nick.

"The unSub has some sort of arm or hand injury. Look for that before anything else." Nick nodded his understanding and the two walked to the front desk.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but do you mind if we ask you some questions," said Nick to the elderly woman in front of him. Her back was turned, but when she faced the men, her eyes grew wide and fell on Spencer.

"Spencer Reid, look at you!" she said, a smile spreading across her face. Reid looked up and smiled shyly in return, finally recognizing her.

"Hi, Mrs. Barett," he said, with a half-wave.

"Look at how tall you are! I haven't seen you since you left for college, my dear." She turned to Nick and said knowingly, "This one is one smart lad. He went to CalTech, did you know that?"

Nick just smiled at Reid's apparent embarrassment. "No I did not, ma'am."

"Umm-hmmm, and FBI, too! A bright future is ahead of this one. Every day, I watched him come in here and stay for hours on end, until closing time." She turned to smile at Spencer. "Spencer, Sweetie, how is Diana? I heard she was still receiving help at the sanit-"

"Yes, yes , she's fine. Thank you," said Reid, quickly, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Do you mind if we ask you a couple questions, Mrs. Barett?" he asked, changing the subject, while Nick looked from the woman, to Spencer and back again, confused.

"What about, Dear?"

"It's about the recent murders, ma'am," said Nick. "We think it's possible that the man responsible might work at this library."

"Here?" said Mrs. Barett, her smile instantly disappearing. "Are you quite sure?"

"Pretty sure," said Spencer. "He's a little paranoid, always thinking people are watching him. He doesn't treat the female employees with respect. He's often late for work. You find he stares at the female students, but is too shy to go and talk to them. He's fit and works out. He drives that large truck out front or something like it. And he might have recently injured his hand or arm."

Throughout the description, Mrs. Barett paled considerably. "Oh my Gosh," she whispered.

"Do you know someone like that?" said Nick gently.

"Samuel Benders," she said quietly. "He stacks books and- and orders them, oh my, did he—he couldn't have, could he?"

"Mrs. Barett, it's alright, calm down. I need to know if Mr. Benders is working today and if so, where he is," said Nick calmly.

"Yes, yes he is. He came in a half hour late and went straight back into the storage room to get the books."

Spencer nodded at Nick to the back room and rested a hand on his gun. "Stay here ma'am," said Nick.

They went into the back and on Nick's signal, rushed into the room. It was clear. Nick turned around to face Spencer behind him.

"He's not here. We should check the rest of the-REID!" he cried, suddenly.

Reid didn't have enough time to react. He felt the cold metal of a gun smack across his head, knocking him down but not unconscious. He reached for his gun, but it was gone, next to Samuel Benders dirty sneakers, out of reach.

"You, put down your gun or the kid gets one through the head," Samuel said to Nick, gun aimed at Spencer, who was having a hard time focusing on the gun in his face. He was seeing double.

Slowly, Nick dropped his gun, and pushed it away with his foot. Finally Spencer was able to see semi-clearly. He felt his heart drop when he saw the larger gun strapped to Samuel's back.

"You two, come with me. NOW!" he roared, grabbing Nick by the collar while still aiming at Reid. Nick looked at Reid, unsure of what to do. Spencer just nodded slowly, telling him silently to do what Samuel said.

They got out of the room and Samuel unstrapped his larger gun and sent four thundering shots up into the roof.

"NOBODY MOVE OR I KILL THE COPS!"

Everyone stayed still.

Spencer just stared at Samuel. Their suspect had just become their unSub.

…..

Author's Note:

Muwahahaha evil unSub! Tell me what you think, I wanna know!

My review button is beckoning. It's not nice to ignore it

With love, MissdaVinci77